O Captain! My Captain!

I really liked what they did with this guy. Banagher started out hating him, but eventually came to respect him during their trek through the desert.

They had an interesting conversation in the cave during their trip. The gist of it was that the spacenoids and earthlings have different systems born in different places, which will inevitably come into conflict. But this is rather silly. The spacenoids come from Earth, after all. And their system of government is the oldest form their is: an autocracy. One of its variants developed in the early 20th century, fascism, to be specific. Continue reading Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn 04 — Trampling→

To those who read this blog regularly, you may have realized that bloody action shows are not exactly my thing. So this may come as a bit of a surprise, but well, I think that Hellsing Ultimate is bloody (hahaha) awesome. Here’s why:

Insanity. There isn’t a single character in this show who isn’t completely insane and who doesn’t laugh in delight at the sight of blood and carnage. Well, at least not anyone who lives longer than ten seconds. And most of those guys are insane too.

Sheer Ridiculousness. We have a battle between the Inquisition, Anglicans, and undead Nazis. And Father Anderson and Alucard make for two more armies.

Audacious Badassery. Each of the main characters could easily defeat an army single-handedly. These guys make the heroes of Tenga Toppa Gurrenn Laggan look like a girl scout troop.

Evil Laughter. Bwah ha ha ha ha!

Great Dialogue. The style is reminiscent of Shin Mazinger Z. The characters pose in the middle of battle and just scream epic lines at each other.

Fountains of Blood. The creators of Hellsing Ultimate have taken blood and gore so far past the point where it becomes disgusting that it has reached a second plateau where it is simply a matter of course. They are not afraid to take anything too far. There are more limbs ripped off per episode than there are limbs.

Father Anderson. Amen.

If I had to describe Hellsing in one word, it would be epic. The creators aren’t afraid to take anything too far. And it works. Character development? I suppose they throw a bit in here or there. A sensible plot? Nah. Humor? Unless you find the amount of gore funny (I’ll be honest: occasionally I do). But who needs these things. We’ll just show monsters killing things, shouting at each other and generally being badasses. If the bad guys are going to invade London, let them massacre the entire populace! And then we can have the rescue force finish off the survivors! If you’re going to have an action show, this is how you should do it! Don’t hold anything back, and go all out! I’m glad all anime aren’t like this, but for once in a while it’s quite entertaining.

As for episode eight, in particular: it’s a continuation of the London invasion, and Alucard makes his return. (why couldn’t England have sent a faster boat to pick him up again…?) Both the inquisition and the Nazis stop their battle to kill Alucard. Of course, they get destroyed. Father Anderson begins the ultimate showdown, and turns into a monster like Alucard.

This came out a couple months ago, but if you haven’t seen it yet, don’t worry, because you haven’t missed anything. I’ll summarize the entire thing. We start with an exciting two minute intro of copy-pasted pages from the manga. Then:

Someone interacts with Morita.

Morita thinks for several minutes about what to say next.

She doesn’t say anything.

Misunderstandings and lesbian hijinks occur.

Two boys comment about how jealous they are.

Repeat ad nauseum for twenty minutes.

The only times I even cracked a smile were when Morita’s mother appeared.

This OVA was a teaser episode for a show that’s airing this summer. If the jokes have gotten old before the first episode has even aired, then we’re in for some trouble. I won’t even bother going into how terrible the animation was or how faceless the supporting cast was since, well, if a comedy isn’t even funny, what’s the point?